00:02A significant environmental project is set to transform parts of the River Weir in Sunderland
00:07after more than a quarter of a million pounds in funding was secured. The initiative will focus on
00:12restoring salt marsh and mudflat habitats which have largely disappeared over time due to industrial
00:17development and changes to the river. So we're here on the banks of the Weir River in Sunderland
00:23at Claxi Rocks looking at two salt marsh restoration schemes at Crown Work are delivering in partnership
00:31with the Environment Agency and Caterpillar Foundation. So our North East Rivers estuaries
00:38have been classified as heavily modified so they don't have many natural estuary edges left so
00:45they've been built on, they've been urbanised, they've been used for port and industry for
00:49hundreds of years. So we're trying to reset the clock a little bit, find little pockets where we
00:56can create a bit of space for nature again without impacting on the general use of the rivers as they
01:02are now. The restoration will take place across around 0.7 hectares of estuary edge spanning Barron's
01:08Quay on the north bank and Claxhill rocks to the south. Instead of planting vegetation specialist
01:14contractors will install natural barriers made from wooden stakes and woven brushwood to
01:19slow the river flow and encourage sediment to settle. Over time this allows native plants to return
01:25naturally creating habitats for fish, crabs and other marine life. You know ideally what we want
01:30to create is is a string of pearls type effect if you like along along the river so you know
01:36we can't
01:37take out the current use of the river we can't reclaim you know the banks and and remove the industrial
01:42units that are over there for instance and put it back to how it was 200 years ago but we
01:47can find old
01:48remnant sites that are no longer used by industry where we can create a little space for nature again
01:54and if we can do enough for those along the river then hopefully collectively they'll make a real
01:59difference to the wildlife that lives here. So we can extend this area and and create that habitat for
02:04the plants but then obviously other little animals will live in that habitat so you'll get little
02:09crabs living in there and you'll get lots of different invertebrates marine worms and that's food for
02:14other things so that's why here we've got you know we've got shell duck on the river there we've
02:19got um red shank wandering about we've got even got arisette there that you know you wouldn't have
02:24found on the rear 20 years ago and they're all here feeding on the life that's in in in the
02:29river
02:29and if we can increase this habitat that's more food for them which means more birds which in turn
02:34again will mean more fish coming in to feed on the little critters which is food for the dolphins and
02:39porpoises that everybody loves to see the seals and so it all has that knock-on effect in terms of
02:44the habitat and an ecosystem. Organizers are calling on the local community to support and protect the
02:51site if successful the scheme could help restore the river weir to better ecological health and support
02:57wildlife for years to come
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